Literary Master 1978

Ye Zhaoyan felt like he was floating on the boundless sea, with blue water and bright stars above his head, as beautiful and gorgeous as a fairy tale.

Suddenly, he remembered something and turned his head suddenly, only to see a tiger looking at him eagerly.

The huge fear made him retreat uncontrollably, until he seemed to have stepped on something hard. When he looked down, he saw a human skull.

Ye Zhaoyan didn't know why he wasn't afraid, so he actually picked up the skull and knocked it.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

How could the skull make such a loud noise?

With this idea popping up in his mind, Ye Zhaoyan suddenly woke up and realized it was a dream.

Without enough time to recall the dream, he walked to the door and opened it. The person who knocked on the door was Fan Xiaotian, the editor of "Zhongshan".

The two graduated in the same year. Fan Xiaotian graduated from Yenching Normal University. After graduation last summer, he was assigned to be an editor at "Zhongshan" because he became familiar with Ye Zhaoyan because of the manuscript editing.

"What are you doing here so early?" Ye Zhaoyan asked, yawning.

"It's just the Chinese New Year and I don't want to go to work, so I told the editor to compile a manuscript." Fan Xiaotian spoke lazily, sat down unceremoniously, and asked, "What time is it and you haven't gotten up yet?"

"Flower City" was bought the day before yesterday. Ye Zhaoyan read the novel for two days. He almost didn't think about tea or food, and he just took a random bite at every meal.

Fan Xiaotian looked at his expression and asked, "What have you been writing in the past two days? You are so tired."

"I haven't written anything yet. I'm just reading a novel."

"Forgetting food and sleep?"

Ye Zhaoyan couldn't control it again and yawned, "Absolutely."

Fan Xiaotian glanced at the surrounding environment. There was a pile of books beside the bed, which was where Ye Zhaoyan always kept his books.

He found a book sitting alone on the windowsill, out of tune with the surrounding environment.

He couldn't help but walked over and picked it up, "Flower City, isn't this what you're watching?"

"Um."

"What good works are there in this issue that make you so fascinated by them?"

Ye Zhaoyan looked at his friend's relaxed and indifferent expression, and for some reason he felt an urge to play prank in his heart.

"This issue publishes Xu Lingjun's new novel "The Crossing of the Boat"."

"Lin Chaoyang published a novel?"

Fan Xiaotian was immediately interested when he heard it. He graduated from Yan'an Normal University, but in the 1978 class, one class later than Tao Yushu. He graduated in July last year.

He was not familiar with Tao Yushu, but Tao Yushu had a great reputation among their two students.

On the one hand, it's because this senior sister has both good character and academic skills, outstanding appearance and temperament, and is a goddess in the minds of many people; on the other hand, it's also because this senior sister has a good husband.

In 1979, Lin Chaoyang made Yan Normal University a big hit among many universities and cultural circles in Yanjing with his movie "The First Floor in the World", which impressed these students deeply.

Because of this potential connection, when Fan Xiaotian heard Ye Zhaoyan say "Xu Lingjun", his first reaction was to call out Lin Chaoyang's real name.

He flipped through the magazine in his hand and asked again: "What are you talking about?"

"Have you seen "Robinson Crusoe"?"

When Fan Xiaotian heard this, he nodded quickly, "I've seen it before! There are not many works with this kind of theme!"

"Yes, it is indeed rare, and the writing is particularly good!" Ye Zhaoyan said meaningfully.

"Then I'll read it for a while. Hey, do you have anything new? It's also a scrap. I'll deal with the editor later."

"Just take a look first, and I'll look for it for you later."

Time flies, and most of the day has passed. Fan Xiaotian is fascinated by reading novels. At night, he refuses to leave and wants to share a bed with Ye Zhaoyan.

The two cooked some noodles for dinner. Fan Xiaotian said to Ye Zhaoyan excitedly while eating: "The novel is indeed well written. The subject of drifting at sea is difficult to write, and it will be dull and boring if it is not handled well.

But this "Crossing the Boat" handles it very well, with the thrilling confrontation with tigers and the beauty of various sea wonders. In such an environment, the protagonist continues to experience his own heart, and gradually clarifies his understanding of the meaning of life and beliefs. know. "

Listening to his words, Ye Zhaoyan's feeling of successful prank grew even more.

"It will be more exciting later, just take your time and watch."

Hearing what he said, Fan Xiaotian became even more excited. He stuffed the noodles into his stomach in two mouthfuls, eagerly picked up the book again and lay on the bed to read.

After nightfall, Ye Zhaoyan went to bed early. In the past two days, he stayed up late reading novels and suffered from severe lack of sleep.

In the middle of the night, a howl suddenly echoed through the room, startling him to sit up from the bed.

Fan Xiaotian, who was lying next to him, sat up at some point and threw the magazine in his hand aside, with a look of shock and disbelief.

"Why are you so crazy in the middle of the night?" Ye Zhaoyan complained.

Fan Xiaotian turned his head, still with a frightened expression on his face, "You already knew that, right? Did you deliberately trick me?"

Listening to his words, Ye Zhaoyan couldn't help but smile with success, "Have you finished the novel? You read it very quickly!"

Fan Xiaotian has always been very quick, and he can even see things much faster than ordinary people. Seeing Ye Zhaoyan acting like this, how could he not understand what kind of intention this man has?

He kicked him and said, "You're such a bad boy!"

Ye Zhaoyan dodged Fan Xiaotian's feet lightly and shouted: "I kindly recommend works to you, why do you hit people?"

The two played around for a while, and the fear in Fan Xiaotian's heart caused by the novel faded a lot, and then he became more serious.

"Hey, did you say Du Sanjiang really eat his mother?"

Ye Zhaoyan was originally smiling, but when he heard his question, the smile on his face disappeared, and the fear dominated by the plot came again, especially now it was the middle of the night.

He twisted his body uncomfortably, "I don't know. If you look into the details here, this possibility is very high, because it must conform to the logic of reality. But the author didn't write it directly, probably leaving us some room for imagination."

Fan Xiaotian nodded gently when he heard it, "Lin Chaoyang's final blank is amazing! When I saw Du Sanjiang tell the second story at the end, I was still a little unresponsive. After reading the novel, I felt scared."

Ye Zhaoyan echoed: "Yes, I feel the same way."

Both of them were a little excited, and Fan Xiaotian began to analyze the novel from the perspective of an editor.

"The structure of "The Ferry" is very ingenious! It seems that Du Sanjiang is telling the story alone, but because the author is added, we readers can put ourselves in the author's perspective.

This forms a two-layer structure, one surface and one inside. As the author continues to question, he throws out the other side of the story, but this is still not the whole picture of the story.

The truth of the story is floating there, like a ghost on the sea."

Ye Zhaoyan praised: "This metaphor is good, it is indeed like a ghost on the sea. The suspense atmosphere of his previous work is very strong, but that kind of suspense is to arouse your curiosity and desire to explore, but this time "The Ferry" But it is different.

He did not set up suspense from the beginning, but told a positive and challenging story, until the end, he suddenly threw out a terrifying ending that caught people off guard.

To be honest, I had a dream after reading the novel last night. "

Fan Xiaotian asked, "What did you dream about?"

Ye Zhaoyan told the content of the dream, and Fan Xiaotian imagined it for a while, and suddenly said: "In fact, it is not impossible for the cook to throw the mother's body into the sea. After all, there were sharks coveting them next to the lifeboat at that time."

Ye Zhaoyan immediately understood what he meant. Du Sanjiang only told two stories in the novel.

As for the last story, they, the readers, guessed it based on the details and blank spaces in the novel.

If the mother's body was really thrown into the sea, Du Sanjiang naturally did not eat his mother's body?

Ye Zhaoyan suddenly remembered the question Du Sanjiang asked the writer at the end of the novel, which story do you want to believe?

This is not only a torture for the writer, but also a torture for the readers.

Rather than asking which story the writer and the reader are willing to believe, his question is more like asking: Are you still willing to believe in human nature?

The sudden flash of inspiration made Ye Zhaoyan feel a shudder from the soul.

Animal nature, human nature, divinity...

In an instant, Ye Zhaoyan seemed to understand what the novel "The Boat" really wanted to express.

He eagerly grabbed the magazine and flipped through the novel quickly.

Fan Xiaotian looked puzzled, "What are you doing?"

Ye Zhaoyan did not answer. He kept flipping for a long time before he finally stopped. The expression on his face changed from eager to frustrated.

"What are you looking at?" Fan Xiaotian asked again.

Ye Zhaoyan looked at him, "We all guessed wrong!"

"What do you mean?"

"I thought Lin Chaoyang was giving us a puzzle, throwing out stories layer by layer, so that we could gradually get closer to the truth.

But in fact, he wrote three stories that are each systematic, reflecting divinity, humanity and animality respectively.

There is no so-called truth or falsehood in the whole novel, nor is there any real truth. What we see depends entirely on what we are willing to believe."

Fan Xiaotian listened to Ye Zhaoyan's words, and his expression became more confused.

The creepy fear after reading "The Boat" just now still remained in his mind, but Ye Zhaoyan now said that the truth they thought was only one of the possibilities, which made Fan Xiaotian a little difficult to accept.

He repeated Ye Zhaoyan's actions and read the novel word by word.

After a long time, he sat down a little dejectedly and smiled bitterly.

"Cleverness is the opposite of cleverness! This Lin Chaoyang is really hiding too deep! How could someone design a novel so ingeniously?"

Fan Xiaotian's words attracted Ye Zhaoyan's deep recognition.

After reading "The Ferry" for the first time, I was shocked by the hidden ending and truth, and I couldn't help but feel proud of seeing through the author's mind.

As a creator, Ye Zhaoyan couldn't help but look up to Lin Chaoyang at that time. He admired Lin Chaoyang's powerful writing and exquisite ideas, and asked himself that he couldn't compare with him.

But when he really understood "The Ferry", he was left with confusion.

A mayfly in the world, a grain of sand in the vast ocean.

In front of such a work, how could he be qualified to talk about creation?

Let alone catching up with the other party, he didn't even have a direction.

He was still preparing for the 100-meter race, while others had already taken a rocket to outer space.

The higher you look up, the stronger you become!

Ye Zhaoyan sighed dejectedly. He had read hundreds of literary masterpieces from ancient and modern times, both at home and abroad, since he was a child, and he never thought that one day he would be discouraged by a novel.

Fan Xiaotian saw his disappointment and understood the pain that the creator felt after seeing and understanding such a work.

He comforted him, "Zhao Yan, don't add unnecessary pressure to yourself. After all, that is Lin Chaoyang!"

His words seemed like nonsense, but they attracted Ye Zhaoyan's sidelong glance.

Yes, that was Lin Chaoyang after all!

Every work that came out would set off a huge wave, countless readers flocked to it, the literary world praised it, and he won all the authoritative literary awards in the country in his twenties.

People like him were born to be known to the world and famous.

All writers of his generation could not help but be eclipsed by his brilliance.

After a moment of loss, Ye Zhaoyan calmed down with Fan Xiaotian's seemingly nonsense consolation.

He thought about it, walked to the desk and spread out the manuscript paper.

"What? You still need to write at this time?"

"Well, I want to write down my feelings about "The Boat Crossing". Don't you want the manuscript? I can take it back for you!"

Fan Xiaotian was delighted to hear this, "This is a good idea! Write it quickly and try to give it to me tomorrow morning."

After he finished speaking, he lay on the bed and covered his head and fell asleep.

Late at night, the lamp on the desk was on all the time, and Ye Zhaoyan was full of inspiration and wrote calmly.

- "The Interweaving of Divinity, Humanity and Animality - Thoughts on Reading "The Story of the Boat Crossing"".